DWP set to launch new State Pension tool for older people to check whether to claim back payments
01.09.2023 - 14:27
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) recently published online guidance explaining how next of kin, or an executor of someone’s estate, can request information about State Pension underpayments - worth up to an average of £11,650 - for someone who has died. The DWP estimates that due to historical errors, some 165,000 older people have been underpaid their State Pension by £1.2billion.
The underpayments mostly affect married women, widows and those aged over 80. The DWP also estimates 210,000 people may have been underpaid a further £1.3billion due to historical issues relating to Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) - letters will be sent to people who may have been affected this month, find out more here.
However, people who think they may be due back payments from an error on their State Pension will soon be able to check whether or not they should make a claim, according to DWP Minister Laura Trott MBE MP.
In a written response to the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MP, Jim Shannon, regarding measures being taken by the DWP to rectify State Pension underpayment errors, Ms Trott explained how additional staffing resources are now in place resulting in over 30,000 cases being checked per month between November 2022 and March 2023, compared to an average of 5,000 per month over the first 22 months of the correction exercise.
She also indicated that the DWP expects to complete the exercise for Category BL (married women) and Category D (those over 80) cases by the end of 2023. Ms Trott continued: “Other State Pension underpayment errors were identified through the fraud and error sampling which related to historic non-recording of Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) on a claimant’s National Insurance record.
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